March 2022 Money Smart Newsletter: Success Stories

Lake City Bank Supplements Money Smart for Adults with New How Money Smart Are You? Game

Lake City Bank in Warsaw, IN, has been teaching Money Smart for Adults for over a decade and they recently started incorporating the new How Money Smart Are You? resource. For those who complete the Money Smart for Adults course, they offer specialized no fee deposit and loan products to help people learn how to manage their money, save for the future, and build their credit. There are times when participants miss a session or want to move through at an accelerated pace, so they have started using How Money Smart Are You? to allow them to make up chapters or move ahead.

Austin Bair, a Community Reinvestment Officer at the bank stated, “The website is easy to navigate. It’s nice to be able to login and see how many players we have and check in on their progress. I am very happy to have this option to give to people who want to learn more. I teach a lot of classes, and this online program helps us all, customers and myself, fit these lessons into our busy schedules.” In their Money Smart classes, they often have between 5-15 participants at a time.

Austin offers these tips for other users of Money Smart for Adults:

Partner with a trusted community organization to expand your reach and increase class sizes.
Offer some sort of incentive to encourage people to join the classes. Some examples we offer or have offered in the past:
- Access to special products with reduced or eliminated fees, or products designed to help build/repair credit or establish positive financial habits. (We have a minimum attendance requirement in order to “complete” the program and earn a certificate of achievement that they need to bring into a branch to open or apply for these special products.)
- Opportunities to meet and talk with local bankers in a casual non-intimidating environment.
- A meal for the participants during the Money Smart session.
- Prizes for kids (pens, pencils, balloons, candy, bank swag etc.).
Pause during the Key Takeaway slides at the end of each section to see if the participants have questions and/or ask them questions to gauge their understanding.

Have other tips? Please share them with moneysmartnews@fdic.gov.